Victorian Children and Animals Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889

One of the things that delighted me so much with the illustrations from the Harper's Young People weekly was the number of illustrations of Victorian children with animals, like the illustration above that appeared in the August 31, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 670. The illustration was entitled "Getting ready for a walk."

When I was a young girl I can remember times when we found bird's nests with baby birds in them that seemed to be abandoned by their mothers.  We always tried to help the little babies and would take them home and with the help of our Dad try to feed them.  I can remember using a little eye dropper to feed them water and digging up worms to feed them.  Unfortunately we weren't successful in our endeavors.

One of the reasons I love the illustration above, which appeared in the March 20, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 313. It was an engraving that was entitled "Drink, Pretty Creature, Drink! and was from the painting by O. Tojetti.

What I like about this engraving is not only the beautiful details like the folds in her dress but you can see the love, care and concern in the little girl's face for the chickadee.  Plus, if you look closely you can see her reflection in the water.

I chuckled a little when I saw the illustration above from the February 9, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 204.  It was contained within a story entitled "Captain Polly" by Sophie Swett.

The illustration above was entitled " Polly's Indecision" and the reason I chuckled was knowing when you have dogs, like I have had my whole life,  there are so many daily occurrences during bad weather when you wonder whether you should let the dog out or not.  I love the look on both her face and the look on the dog's.

The 4-part illustration above also brought a smile to my face as I can remember so many times as a young child when I was giving our dog a bath it would inevitably get out of the tub and before I could get the towel on it would do exactly what the little dog did in the fourth picture above.  The illustration appeared in the April 20, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 368.

The illustration was entitled " Turn About Is Fair Play." The four captions under the four pictures were: "Come, Doggie, I'll give you a bath." ""There you is." "Doggie jumps out, and returns the compliment."

So many, many times that was me.

I love the details of the little girls face, dress, doll, and dogs face in the illustration above that appeared in the May 25, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 446.  It was entitled "Nellie and Her Dearest Friends."  The caption was "Now, Rover dear, we will wait for the postman, and maybe he will bring the letter mamma wrote for me, all printed in the Young People. Wou't you and Pussy and Jack be glad when you read all about yourselves in my paper."

The weekly magazines had a "Our Post-Office Box' section that contained letters from its' readers.  I'll bet during this period many, many readers wrote in and many, many readers anxiously awaited the weekly for its' stories and illustrations.

 

The illustration above was from the May 4, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 393 and was an engraving entitled "Can't Get Acquainted." from the painting by J.G. Brown, N.A.

I think the expression on the young boy's face is so enchanting.  You can feel the love he has for his dog.  The details of this engraving are exceptional - don't you think?

I hope you enjoyed the Victorian children and animals illustrations.